Cultural and Historic Inventory
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Preface July 2015 rev The following document is a cultural and historical inventory of Echo, Oregon. When the City of Echo started this project and asked for citizen input we were asked, “What is a cultural inventory?” A trip to the giant dictionary in the library was reassuring. Among the definitions of “culture” is the “result of being cultivated, refinement, and improvement to man’s physical and mental condition”. Further along were two words by themselves: “civilization; educate;” History was defined as “pertaining to history or historians; containing history." This document is an attempt to educate, document and preserve the culture, civilization and refinements of Echo. I hope that after reading this document you will feel we have been successful. An Arts Builds Community Grant from the Oregon Arts Commission funded this project. The goal behind this project was to create an historical and cultural inventory that could be used as a stepping stone to other projects that build on Echo’s history and culture, such as a Millennium Arts Project proposed by the city and volunteers making up the Millennium Arts Committee, which seeks funding to develop a variety of public art creations to scatter throughout the community. Another part of the grant funded the development of an Echo logo using the image of Echo Koontz. This idea sprang from historical photos of Echo on display at city hall. Echo's image was determined to be one that would be memorable and could be used on historic markers, interpretive panels, souvenirs and city documents. Below is the logo selected by the art committee and city council. Millennium Arts Committee Members: Ed McCallum, Richard Winter, Nellie Madison, Gayle Weatherson, Diane Berry, and Ed Longhorn. Mayor: Jeannette Bell. Echo City Council Members: Ed McCallum, Richard Winter, Pat Wood, Cyrus Haskett, Brad Williams, and Ed Longhorn. Diane Berry, City Administrator January 2002 A Grant from the Oregon Arts Commission provided funding for this document. Echo's Cultural Inventory 1 Introduction A cultural inventory is designed to gather a community’s stories, folklore, artists, history, places and unique features together in a single document. The intent is to have this inventory do this. However, this is not a finite document. As research continues, and the public reviews this document, new information will come forward, and of course, history is not static. History is continuous, ongoing. Consequently, it is the city’s intent to revise this document periodically. This document is a listing of information about Echo that only scratches the surface of the unique and diverse community that Echo is and was. Echo, like any town, has changed over the years, but it remains a special place because of that history. More than many other places, Echo has managed to save and celebrate its past. Archaeologists have long recognized that people, whatever their culture or heritage, tend to settle in the same places century after century, decade after decade. The same characteristics attract people: waterways, easy transportation routes, etc. The southside of Main St. looking valley where the town is located east, Aug. 2013. and the other settlement areas that make up Echo today, such as Butter Creek, are such places. Archaeological excavations from the Utilla Indian Agency/Fort Henrietta site reveal that Native Americans began using the site over 3,500 years ago. Mary Oman, Bureau of Land Management archaeologist, discovered in her research that the Echo area has been a significant transportation hub from prehistoric times. It is a place she says where “…literally all trails meet.” Irrigation canals intersect the valley, which attracted settlement in the early 1900s. All of these factors, plus rich soils and waterways, makes the Echo area an attractive place to settle. However, eventually the highway system bypassed Echo when the freeway moved a mile to the north and the railroad lost its importance as a transportation mode. Other towns became the new hubs for commerce and transportation. These factors lead to the decline of Echo’s business district. There was a hidden benefit to Echo’s loss of status as a transportation and commerce center. This meant that the historic buildings were not torn down and historical sites were not bulldozed. If progress and commercial development had occurred here, Echo probably would not have the 10 historic buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places today or many of the other historical and cultural assets that are what makes the town unique. The historic buildings, the National Historic Oregon Trail Site (Fort Henrietta Park) and Utilla Indian Agency-Fort Henrietta Site are now the essence of the town. The town certainly has not been Echo's Cultural Inventory 2 immune to many of the problems besetting rural Oregon, but it has met these changes with proactive measures that reinforce its small town cohesiveness, while welcoming visitors and new opportunities. Few communities, especially of Echo’s size, have managed to maintain such an impressive collection of historical buildings and their histories. Moreover, the intersection of the Oregon Trial, Native American trails, the Union Pacific Railroad, I-84 and the Umatilla River all add to the town’s distinctiveness and character. Unlike other places that boast Oregon Trail connections, Echo’s historical relevance is not restricted to that brief period of activity. Instead, the story of Echo is in many ways the story of western America. Native Americans lived here and they encountered Lewis & Clark near here. In and around Echo, the Native Americans fought the incoming Americans, making Echo witness to one of the most amazing voluntary migrations in the history of any people. In subsequent years, Echo saw new waves of immigrants from places as unlikely as the Azores, Ireland and Italy. Here in Echo is the story of hard work and reward, of community spirit, sacrifice and the creation of a true sense of community. From the success of immigrant Joseph Cunha, to the tragic early death of Echo Koontz Miller, to the decline of the sheep industry to the tourism industry, Echo tells the story of Oregon. Echo also tells the story of what is possible in this magnificent place. Obviously, these stories can be found in other communities, but not often, and Echo is all the more significant for the careful stewardship that it has given to its past and to its future. One of the unique features of Echo is that within a small geographic area there are historic buildings covering a diverse time period and architectural styles from the Masonic Lodge (western falsefront) that was built in the 1860s to the BeauxArts style Bank of Echo (now Echo Museum) that was built in 1920. Here we can say the lack of progress 40 years ago has lead to a major plus for our community today. A documentary film called Silent Witnesses: America’s Historic Trees is about trees alive today that were present when Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address or while Civil War battles raged. The premise is that these trees stood as silent witness to these events. They cannot tell us what they saw, but the very fact that they remain today allows us to look at them and ponder the events they witnessed. In Echo, we have many silent witnesses. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know the stories that the walls of city hall, the Echo Hotel, the hills, Picket Rock, and even the cottonwoods along the Umatilla River could tell us? If only they could talk. However, by their existence, we can stop and wonder about what happened here 50, 100, 500 or even 1000 years ago. Setting Echo, Oregon is located in the west end of Umatilla County, Echo's Cultural Inventory 3 northeastern Oregon. The town sits in a small valley created by the Umatilla River. Echo is 20 miles west of Pendleton and eight miles south of Hermiston. The junction of Interstate 84 and Highway 395 is located just one mile north of the town and forms the northern border of the town’s Urban Growth Boundary. Settlement is primarily on the east side of the river on a terrace about one square mile. The golf course and a small housing development sit on the hills on the east edge of town. The elevation varies from 635 feet above sea level on the valley floor to 800 feet on the golf course. When visitors come over the hill from I-84 to Echo for the first time, they often comment on the oasis-like setting that makes Echo such an attractive place. The riparian trees and shrubs combined with trees planted in Echo yards create the setting that has lead to the city’s Tree City USA status since 1989. As of 2012 Echo has remained Oregon’s smallest Tree City USA. Adding to the scenic setting of the town is the view of Service Buttes and the Blue Mountains to the southwest. The Umatilla River forms the western boundary of the town of Echo, but the area that is Echo is much more than the geographic boundaries of the town. The “Echo Area” encompasses the vast rolling hills to the northeast to Stage and DeSpain gulches and east toward Pendleton. The Echo mailing route and Echo School District stretch to within about six miles of Pendleton. The Echo area also stretches south toward Pilot Rock and into Morrow County. In fact many of the families who still ranch in northeast Morrow County attended Echo Schools until sometime in the 1960s and consider Echo their home, while their children who attend Heppner Schools, identify with the Heppner community. To the west, the Butter Creek area is part of Echo.